Doug Williams #69

Douglas Allan Williams, son of Joe and Bettie Broomfield Williams, was born in Christiansburg, VA on July 28,1955.  Shortly thereafter, the Williams family moved to Bluefield, WV where Doug attended Glenwood Elementary School through 4th grade.  At that time, Doug’s family relocated to Arlington, VA, where Doug attended Claremont Elementary and Gunston Jr. High schools, where he became friends with future fellow Titan, Rich Avila.  Once again, the family relocated, but this time much closer to nearby Alexandria, where Doug attended John Adams Middle School and Francis Hammond High before the consolidation to TC.

It was at Hammond where Doug began playing football; first under Nick Hilgert, his freshman coach, and then under Wendell Swain, who coached Doug in both JV football and baseball.  Moved up to varsity at the end of his JV football season, Doug looked forward to playing under Coach Yoast, who in 1969 led the Admirals to the Northern Region Championship.

Doug was a reserve lineman during the championship year, which was his junior year at TC.  Playing mostly on special teams, Doug says his “on the field” hi-light was causing a fumble by heralded All-American “Baby” Powell during a playoff game against Woodrow Wilson (recovered by fellow reserve lineman, Mike Lynch) which helped turn the momentum of the game.

Following his junior year, Doug, along with several of his teammates, was selected to participate in the DC Youth Leader’s Camp, a 10-day sports encampment at Aberdeen Proving Grounds and attended a Redskins Football Clinic at RFK stadium.

Doug started at left guard his senior year where he earned the “Best Blocker” award for the 8-2 Potomac District champions.

Doug’s great influences in athletics were Randy Marsh, who at John Adams Middle school challenged Doug’s desire to excel in sports, Wendell Swain, who was an terrific educator and inspirational leader both on the field and in the classroom and last, but not least, Paul Hines, Doug’s offensive line coach at TC.  “Coach Hines had the ability to reach within you and touch your inner pride”, say’s Doug.  “He also demonstrated great patience and dealt with mistakes or blown assignments face to face, not so much by yelling but by asserting he knew you could do better.   Paul Hines’ philosophy on “mind over matter” and that “you’ll pass out before you die” fueled a spirit of determined effort that I’ll never forget.”  Doug feels he owes much of his management style and business success later in life to lessons learned from these three men.

After TC, Doug went on to Ferrum College, to continue his football career but a “change in position and superior talent” ended his participation in competitive athletics.  After graduating with an AS at Ferrum, Doug went on to earn his BA in History at West Liberty State College in West Liberty, WV.  Turning his focus from athletics to academics, Doug earned memberships to Phi Theta Kappa and Gamma Theta Upsilon honor fraternities.

Immediately after graduation in 1977, Doug returned to Alexandria and married his high school sweetheart, Camille Duryea Erling.  Then, with history degree in hand, Doug began to contemplate career opportunities. 

Throughout college, Doug worked summers for Bekins Moving and Storage and it was this experience that landed Doug jobs in trucking and warehousing until 1980, when Doug began what was to become a 20+ year career in the contract office furniture industry. 

Starting as an assistant warehouse manager with Commercial Office Furniture Company (later known as Commercial Office Environments) in Lanham, MD, Doug rose to Installation Supervisor, Service Manager and then Operations Manager in 1985. 

During this time, Doug and Camille had two children, Catherine Duryea (Katie) born in 1982 and John Dawson born in 1984.

In 1986, Doug left the firmly established Commercial Office Environments for an opportunity with a fledgling upstart rival in Alexandria called Omnifics.  “ I left a company that had been in business for over 50 years, has 135 employees and did $50M a year in revenue for a 2 year old company with 8 employees and maybe $4M in annual revenue.”  As one of Doug’s ex-supervisors stated, “Doug wants to be a big fish in a small pond”.  But it was Doug’s intent to help make Omnifics into a legitimate competitor and, along the way, perhaps put his personal stamp of accomplishment on many of the factors that would make this possible.

At Omnifics, Doug’s career began as a Project Manager but quickly evolved into Operations Manager and ultimately to Vice President, Operations in 1995.

In addition to spending time with his wife Camille, daughter Katie (who attends Penn State) and son John (a linebacker at Westfield High School), Doug enjoys golf and playing bass guitar.

Doug states; “I’ve had a good life and I’d like to think the extraordinary experiences at TC and influences from the extraordinary people along the way have directly contributed to this good fortune.” 

Rufus Littlejohn was born and raised in Alexandria, VA.  He is the youngest of 9 children born into the loving home of Daniel and Izetta Littlejohn.  Rufus was initially educated by his brothers and sisters and was able to read prior to kindergarten.  His education continued at Charles Houston Elementary, Parker-Gray Jr. High and throughout the Alexandria Public Schools.